During the night from Friday to Saturday, several shops in Ghent’s Veldstraat were defaced with red paint and with messages against the war in Gaza. “It concerns about seven shops and buildings that were defaced. We have asked the city of Ghent to remove the graffiti,” says spokesperson Bart De Cocker of the Ghent local police.
The activists raised slogans such as “don’t shop while bombs drop” and stated that the targeted businesses sell products that would finance the war in Gaza. The last news reports that the action group Antifa Ghent distributed a notice from the perpetrators. “The genocide is financed by many international chains and stores that sell brands for the benefit of Israel such as Nespresso, Snipes, Tommy Hilfiger, Fnac, Zara, H&M, J&D sports, Inno, Foot locker, Kruidvat… They benefit directly or indirectly of the war,” say the activists.
“We ask the Belgian state to be courageous, just like South Africa, and to hold Israel accountable before the international court. We ask brands and stores to stop sponsoring the deaths of Palestinians,” the message continues.
The public prosecutor’s office has started a judicial investigation and will try to identify the perpetrators, the East Flanders public prosecutor’s office reports. The local police are investigating who applied the paint and slogans and have drawn up a vandalism report for each affected building.
